Apple approves, then pulls, baby shaking app
Today’s winner of the “What were they thinking?†prize is the Apple App Store for releasing a “game†in which an infant must be shaken, apparently to death, before it will stop crying.
The app in question displayed a raucously crying infant that would stop crying only after the “game†user violently shook the iPhone. This action had to be very violent, which would trigger the accelerometer in the phone, which would in turn cause the program to draw red X’s over the eyes of the caricature baby and finally make it stop crying. The logical conclusion was that the game player had shaken the baby to death.
The description of the “game†provided by the developers was also very suggestive: “On a plane, on the bus, in a theater. Babies are everywhere you don’t want them to be! They’re always distracting you from preparing for that big presentation at work with their incessant crying. Before Baby Shaker there was nothing you could do about it. See how long you can endure his or her adorable cries before you just have to find a way to quiet the baby down!â€
The app, produced by the developer Sikalosoft, was released on Monday and removed from the App Store on Wednesday. There have been no figures released on how many copies of the app were sold before the app was pulled from the virtual shelves, it was clear that child welfare groups did not like the message put forth by the “game.â€
One example comes from Jennipher Dickens of the Sarah Jane Brain Project, whose infant was shaken and injured by her husband, who said (quoted in the Wall Street Journal), “As a result of the child abuse my son endured in the form of Shaken Baby Syndrome, my son now has irreversible brain damage. Words do not even adequately describe how much this disheartens me, both as a mother and as the communications director for the largest national organization preventing and helping children with Pediatric Acquired Brain Injuries.â€
It is difficult to see how the app got through the review process at Apple. The company has been very strict about sex and violence in iPhone apps in the past, though some slightly questionable apps have been released. This app obviously never should have made it through the process, which may need some further attention by the company.
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February 4th, 2010
It’s better if they could create fun and happy baby apps. Just like what I downloaded last week – Twinkle Twinkle Little Star nursery rhyme app. The guys who created this app, have 4 other nursery rhyme apps for children.